


Schwert des Feuers

by rubylily



Category: Shadow Hearts
Genre: Demons, Gen, Pre-Canon, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-05 08:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20486039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubylily/pseuds/rubylily
Summary: Karin investigates rumors of a monster haunting abandoned ruins.





	Schwert des Feuers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wingsyouburn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingsyouburn/gifts).

A sword was both beautiful and deadly. It was a weapon with its own kind of artistic beauty and also a piece of art that could take lives, but in war there was no room for beauty. Her grandmother had given her those words often as she had grown into adulthood, and Karin finally understood that solemn duty.

Her hand brushed against the hilt of the sword at her hip. War still loomed on the horizon, but she had been granted a brief leave before she had to rejoin the battlefield as a soldier, so for now she was free to do as she pleased. She had thought of visiting Munich, but she hadn't yet the power to restore her family's noble name, so she had decided against returning to her childhood home. Instead, she had followed disturbing rumors to Kronach, a town at the north of Bavaria as Munich was to the south.

"There's a monster out there," and elderly man told Karin. "Never heard anything like it before."

"My husband went to investigate, but he hasn't returned…" a young woman said, her eyes filled with tears, and Karin's chest ached.

An old woman eyed Karin suspiciously. "It's malice, I tell you," she said, bitterness clear in her voice. "The whole world's goin' to hell, and the monsters are jeerin' at us."

With that information, Karin headed toward the outskirts of town, carrying a pouch of strangely-named "pure seeds" a shopkeeper had given her. "These will protect your sanity from the darkness," the shopkeeper told her, "and to the devil they're like holy water." Karin was skeptical, but she had still accepted the seeds; even as a child she had heard rumors of such monstrous creatures, animal and human alike corrupted by supernatural malice, but that was only superstition, she told herself.

But she'd also heard of people who had contracted with such malicious souls and could transform into monsters at will.

She inhaled a deep breath, again touching the hilt of her sword to calm herself. Maybe there was nothing to these rumors. People were just scared because of the possibility of war. She had no real reason to investigate, but if there was something foul terrorizing this town, she had a duty to fight. She had become a soldier for that strength.

As the town disappeared behind her, more trees came into view, the beginning of a forest. Being late autumn, most of the leaves had already wilted and fallen, but fortunately for Karin, it hadn't grown too cold yet. She looked down at the map in her hands; according to the townspeople, most of the rumors about monsters centered around an abandoned hill fortification. She doubted it was really a monster, but the rumors were too detailed to ignore.

She pressed forward, and eventually the fortification in question appeared before her. She paused, and a sudden chill came over her. There was an air of sorrow about this place, abandoned and ruined as it was, and also a darkness she couldn't quite place. The sun was starting to set as well, but she had come too far to leave empty-handed.

Briefly she wondered what her grandmother would think of her chasing such dark rumors. She remembered her grandmother's words to her when she had joined the army, that she should always carry a strong and noble heart, but Karin had privately thought that her family now had no nobility left to cling to.

Clutching the hilt of her sword tightly, Karin began to walk around the perimeter of the fortification. The walls were made of stone, weathered from time and nature, and some parts had crumbled away. She raised a gloved hand to touch the stone; a place like this was meant to defend, but with a new kind of war about to erupt, she doubted it would do any good in this age. But when the war finally came, she had sworn before her family that she would fight until her last breath.

And then she heard it: an unnatural, inhuman scream, a scream not of any creature on this earth. She fell to her knees, nearly overcome by an urge to vomit, and she could barely breathe as a dark presence threatened to crush her. Only one thought raced through her mind.

_What the hell was that?_

Slowly she forced herself to her feet, and she saw a large shadow land at the center of the fortification. That dark, oppressive presence grew stronger, and she couldn't stop her body from trembling. Every thought in her mind was telling her to run, but she couldn't. If she ran, she would never be able to face her grandmother again.

So she clenched her teeth and pressed further into the fortification, toward the center.

As an overwhelming sense of dread came over Karin, she reached the center, and nothing could've prepared her for the true form of that shadow. It resembled statues of gargoyles she had seen, and its wingspan was as wide as it was tall, and it was already taller than any human. Horns sprang from its skull, and skin like rippling shadows was stretched tightly over its grotesque muscles, and in its clawed hand it carried a mangled corpse, the blood still fresh.

This was a demon straight out of hell. There was no other way to describe this creature. Karin wanted to vomit, but she was a soldier, determined to restore her family's name, so she drew her sword and charged forward.

The demon stared with its glowing red eyes, and it swayed to the side and dropped the bloodied corpse. It tried to swipe at Karin, but she parried its large fist with the blade of her sword, but its skin was too tough for the blade to draw blood.

Karin jumped back, holding her sword defensively in front of herself, and the demon let out a fearful shriek as it charged forward. She was just barely able to dodge, and she thrust her sword through one of the demon's leathery wings, where the flesh was thinner, and it screamed in pain.

But before she would pull her blade from the demon's wing, the demon seized the blade and shoved its body into her, breaking her grip from the hilt of her sword and knocking her to the grass, and suddenly the demon's large, clawed hand was tight around Karin's throat, pinning her to the ground.

She choked and thrashed, struggling against the demon's monstrous strength. The demon's grip tightened, crushing her throat, and she couldn't breathe at all. The demon stared down at her with those fearful red eyes, as if enjoying the sight of her gaping in vain for air.

Black tinted her vision, and her chest burned. Her sword had fallen from the demon's wing, but she couldn't reach it. She pounded at the demon's hand, its claws biting into the flesh of her throat, but the demon only squeezed tighter. This demon was no mere unintelligent beast, and its eyes held a sadistic gleam, reveling in trying to strangle her to death, to make her suffer as long as possible. Monsters were real, and she couldn't even defeat one. Again she was going to fail her family. If her grandmother could see her now…

No, she couldn't die here, not against this creature of hell. Her grandmother had taught her better than that. Her strength quickly failing, she reached for the pouch of pure seeds - _to the devil they're like holy water_, the shopkeeper had said - and shoved those strange seeds into the demon's face. If these so-called "pure seeds" were meant to protect one's mind against the malice of the darkness, then maybe…!

The demon roared as it released Karin's throat to clutch its burning face, and sweet air filled her aching lungs. She scrambled for her sword and then jabbed it through the demon's eye, pushing the blade as far it would go, black blood staining her gloved hands. The demon twitched and convulsed, and finally, finally it grew still.

Karin slumped to her knees, and each breath she took still pained her bruised throat. Monsters truly did exist. Creatures of hell that haunted her nightmares, they were real. Even though that demon was dead, it still gave off an air of pure malice, like its hand around her throat again, choking her.

Suddenly she couldn't breathe, and she touched her throat, feeling the marks the demon's claws had left. Maybe this world was going to hell, with the devil's monsters and war approaching, but she was a soldier, so she had no choice but to fight, for her country and her family.

If she kept telling herself that, she could be strong, and she would make her grandmother proud.

* * *

After burying the corpse of the young man killed by that demon and returning to the town, she still had a few days left of leave, so Karin left Kronach and headed to Munich. She hadn't visited since becoming a soldier, but the streets of her childhood were still as familiar to her as ever.

Her arms tightened around the bouquet of flowers she carried. She couldn't say she wasn't afraid to die - her encounter with that demon had proven otherwise - but as a soldier she knew it was a very real possibility, so she wanted to ensure she left no regrets.

She headed down a smaller street, and if she closed her eyes, she was certain her feet would be able to move of their own accord. Eventually she stopped in front of a rundown door, and she raised her hand to knock.

The door soon opened, revealing an elderly woman, and her eyes went wide upon seeing Karin. "Hello, Grandma Doris," Karin said, trying to smile.

"Oh, Karin…" her grandmother said, her eyes watering, and she stepped forward to pull Karin into a tight embrace.


End file.
